This Week in the News…

Posted: January 17, 2003 at 1:00 am, Last Updated: November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

Following are highlights of national news coverage George Mason received during the past week:

Friday, Jan. 10, The Washington Post

DMV Cuts Hit Closest to Home, Va. Lawmakers Found

“But other constituencies that have borne budget reductions are infuriated by the emphasis on DMV. ‘It’s just disturbing to me that we are so concerned about the length of time someone has to take to get a driver’s license and at the same time we are losing apparent interest in how long it takes someone to graduate from college,’ said Alan G. Merten, president of George Mason University, who said the school has lost $30 million in the last two years.”

Sunday, Jan. 12, The New York Times

India Harvests Fruits of a Diaspora

“Jagadish Shukla, a professor of climate dynamics at George Mason University in Virginia, said he was starting a school in his village in eastern Uttar Pradesh. ‘In my village, nothing has changed,’ he said, noting that it took longer to get the village from New Delhi than it did to get to New Delhi from the District of Columbia. ‘Why didn’t I do this 25 years ago?” he said of the school. He speculated that much of the complaining about India at the gathering was motivated by guilt at having left India behind.”

Thursday, Jan 16, The Washington Post

Arlington Community Wants Its School Back; Magnets No Longer Fit the Times, Some Say

“Initially, said David Armor, a public policy professor at George Mason University, school boundaries were drawn by race and economic status, and children were bused in all directions to achieve diversity. Later, special academic programs were created to draw white students voluntarily into all-black schools. Now, many minority communities are urging a return to neighborhood schools, Armor said, so they can be a place ‘where people come together.'”

Thursday, Jan. 16, The Boston Globe

A New Leader Vows to Keep CNN’s Name Ahead of the Field

“Internally, CNN, which was swallowed up in the AOL- Time Warner merger, has also endured a period of instability in the management suites that accelerated with the departure in August 2000 of CNN/USA president Rick Kaplan. ‘Jim will face two principal challenges,’ said former CNN Washington bureau chief Frank Sesno, who is now a professor at George Mason University. ‘One is to send an internal signal of reassurance, vision, and direction to a disoriented staff. The other will be to develop and articulate a clear sense of what CNN is, where it’s going, and how it’s going to get there.'”

Thursday, Jan. 16, The Daily Deal

Domino Effect

“But once WorldCom leaves bankruptcy protection with a balance sheet that has significantly less debt, rivals had better watch out. Telecom observers believe the company will slash prices and try to undercut its highly leveraged competitors. That situation, too, may lead to a fresh rash of telecom bankruptcies, as rivals enter Chapter 11 as a way to regain their competitive footing. ‘The traditional bankruptcy approach of looking at a company’s bankruptcy in isolation is not possible in the telecom industry because these bankrupt firms have a competitive impact on each other,’ says Todd Zywicki, professor at George Mason University School of Law in Virginia.”